This invention relates to bird anti-perching devices. More particularly this invention relates to a bird anti-perching device for discouraging birds from perching on a ledge or other surface.
Home owners and apartment dwellers often have difficulty with unwanted birds which alight on surfaces such as ledges, railings or fences and leave excrement when they leave.
It is possible to continually clean the affected surface but this does not address the cause of the problem, namely, unwanted birds.
One attempt to solve the problem can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,179 which utilizes a rectangular flat plate suspended by a rod. The flat plate can rotate and may throw the bird off the plate and prevent it from landing. The plate is positioned so that it rotates eccentrically around its axis.
Problems with this approach have become apparent because birds can perch on a flat plate if they have a second surface on which to balance a foot.
It would be advantageous to provide an anti-perching device which prevents a bird from getting a second foothold.
It is an object of the present invention to prevent a bird from perching on a ledge or other surface.
Another object of the invention is to provide for a product which can be easily attached to the ledge or other surface.
Accordingly, there is provided a bird anti-perching device for discouraging birds from perching on a surface, comprising two spaced-apart support members and a rotatable cylindrical member extending between said two support members and capable of rotating freely if a bird lands thereon, thereby to form an unstable perch.
According to one embodiment of the invention the support members each have a pin which is respectively inserted in the center of one end of the cylindrical member and another portion which essentially clamps the cylindrical member parallel to the ledge such that it can rotate freely.
The cylindrical member is positioned so that there is not sufficient room for a bird to perch between the cylindrical member and the railing.
It will be understood that the cylindrical member could be of hollow, solid or other construction.
The cylindrical member could be made of a wide variety of materials. For example, the member could be made of wood, plastic, metal or some other material.
The support members could have a second pin immediately opposite the first pin so that a series of cylindrical members could be positioned along a railing.
In some cases it is not possible to use proper clamps to affix the cylindrical member to the ledge and some form of clamping utilizing VELCRO (trade mark) material can be used.
It is also possible to permanently affix the cylindrical member to the ledge through mounted supports instead of using clamps.
Further, the cylindrical member can have internal longitudinal reinforcement to reduce bending of the tube of the cylindrical member.